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Medusa’s Mirror
An enlightened Medusa wants to see the world, a traditional tale with a twist.
Copyright by Anne Murray
Medusa’s Mirror
Cast of Characters
Medusa- (Medi) a young girl with visions of travel and long, black hair
Poseidon- an arrogant god with a fear of the feminist mind of Medusa
Athena- Poseidon’s wife (in this version)
Aesclepius- an ancient Greek doctor who is related to Medusa
Stheino- (her name means strength) Medusa’s immortal sister
Euryale- (her name means universal) Medusa’s immortal sister
The Graeae- three women who appear as hags, but are really young sisters to Medusa
Perseus-(Perce) a young man in search of glory
The Jellyfish- five male dancers and five female dancers
The Chorus- represents elements of Medusa’s conscious and unconscious mind
Female Choral Member 1
Female Choral Member 2
Male Choral Member 1
Male Choral Member 2
Act I
Scene 1- Ancient Greece
The scene is underwater. Light flickers in the background (like the way light looks when you are underwater and look up). The light has a blue haze to it. Lightning flashes and there is a distorted image of bolts of light across the background. Medusa is heartbroken, because Poseidon has called an end to their affair.
Enter Medusa.
Medusa: Harsh has the land been to me! I am in love. I am in love with a man unattainable. He is for another and I must sway my mind to more serious endeavors.
Chorus:(Chanting) Medusa! Medusa! Let him go! (Sung with a deep voice ending on a low note) Let him go! (Sung with a shrill voice ending on a high, screeching note)
Medusa:The rhythm of the ocean compels me to throw myself into his world.
(Drums start to beat softly and increase as she finishes her line)
(A giant shadow of a man seems to approach, towering over Medusa and enveloping her for a moment. Medusa backs away, slowly, holding her forehead with reverence and fear).
Poseidon:(He is the shadow and his voice seems to echo as if falling from a great height) Why have you called me from my slumber?
Medusa:(Trembling and still turning her head away from him)
You just don't care anymore!
Poseidon:
You put me at great risk for feigned victimization. What difference does it make if I care or not? I can claim whatever I will.
Medusa: It does matter. My voice, my voice matters. I will tell her that you don't love her. I will tell her that I am your true love.
Poseidon:(Softening his tone, his shadow seems to shrink closer to her size.) Medusa, of course I love you, my child. There are other matters involved. A god cannot just leave his wife. There is a protocol, a procedure to follow. I must have grievances. There must be punishment for my actions as well. And you, my dear; you too will suffer for this disobedience of ours. Everyone must follow the order of society even if they are the favorite of a god as mighty as I am.
Medusa: But, what does it matter? I will suffer anything to be with you again. I must be with you. There is only you in my life.
Poseidon: That is as it should be. A woman should stay with one man or god. I cannot change that rule.
Enter the jellyfish (ten dancers both male and female).
They silently move around Medusa as the lights dim and night falls. Medusa holds her arms tightly against her body as if chilled.
An image of the moon rises in the background and Medusa has left the stage in secret.
The drums beat like the waves and the Jellies move forward and back as if pulled by the tide.
At first, they move in unison and then the lights dim even more and they begin to sway, bumping into each other and causing a chain of jellies to move and swirl. As each jelly
bumps into another, they flicker a green light until the lights are completely dark and they glow green for the remainder of the dance moving about in a frenzy.
Medusa begins to sing while offstage from some distance away and then louder as the jellies move faster and spiral. She sings of the ephemeral quality of love like a firefly flickering in the night trying to attract a mate. She sings about how we can glow in the brilliance of the one we love and then die out just as quickly.
The dance movement changes in response to her words with the jellies illustrating her story. Some bind together as lovers with arms and legs flinging about as if swimming as one form and then separating in a strike. The light fades or disappears suddenly from their bodies as they separate after their individual duets and they each leave the stage as this happens.
Scene 2
The moon fades and a dim gray envelopes the stage. We see Poseidon pompously striding about with his Trident.
Athena enters.
Athena:So it is Medusa who thinks that she can leave this island to show her beauty in far off lands. Let her be cursed to stay here where she was born. I do not want her to succeed. I have power over her and sovereignty.
Poseidon:She is but a child, Athena. Go easy on her. She will learn her place in time, when the moon is no longer full. Wait until the new moon, and try to forgive her ignorance of the place of each woman in our society. She will marry, and become compliant. Try to help her find a man to tame her will. Put your thoughts on marriage, and your efforts will be well placed.
Athena: (Turning her body and tilting her head as she clasps her hands together, raising them to the sky and then dropping them dramatically, almost violently to her side). Yes, of course. Oh, Poseidon you are brilliant. I knew there was a reason why I married you, in spite of your shameful philandering.
Poseidon: (Shrinking away as she says this, he rubs his face with one hand and then the other in alternating motion in a kind of dance of nervous insecurity. He steps to the foreground and the lights dim with Athena frozen in the background as if turned to stone. The spotlight is on him and he reveals his thoughts to the audience). Yes, that will do, I think. I must find someone else for Medusa...someone to tame her wild thoughts of leaving the island. She mustn't see the outside world, for she is brighter than Athena. She is a new generation of female. I must keep her from thinking for herself. Yes, she must fall in love. This is by far the best way to control the fair sex for they lose their heads when they fall in love. She will forget about these ideas of equality and adventure. (The lights fade as he exits to his left).
Scene 3
A previous moment when Poseidon was first courting Medusa. Medusa appears on the stage and she recounts her memory of the scene. The lights come up and we see Poseidon as a man and not a shadow.
Medusa: There must have been a way to avoid this conflict for now I have nothing. It all started that day when I spoke to Poseidon. The day when I told him about the cult of Fe.
(Lights dim and Medusa slips into position quickly as the scene is brightened at mid-stage. We see Poseidon seated on a bed and Medusa stretched out next to him. Medusa begins to sit up as she speaks. They appear to have just finished having sex and the sweat is still on Poseidon's brow. Medusa is pulling the strap of her garment over her shoulder as she speaks. Her look is serious, annoyed even.)
Medusa:Why can't a woman leave the house, alone? Why can't I leave this island? For that matter, why am I female at all? (She leaves the bed as she speaks and stands facing the audience, speaking almost to her inner self). What makes me so different from you? I have dreams and thoughts and I want to travel. I want to see what you have seen.
Poseidon:(Sincerely) You can see what I have seen. Just look into my eyes. Ask me. Ask me anything and I will describe it to you.
Medusa:(Perplexed) How is it that you can say that? Your eyes are clouds to me. I cannot feel as you have felt when you saw the land beyond this island. I cannot imagine what I have not seen. I can only see life through the window of the past. The window becomes a mirror, only showing a reflection, perhaps distorted, but just the same as what I have seen before.
Poseidon:Exactly! It is not for women to see the difference between things, but the similarity. That is why men seek women out. You comfort us with familiarity. This is what keeps a man sane in a world that changes so constantly. Believe me, Medusa; you don't want to know what is out there. You should close yourself in. Perhaps it is fear that makes you wish to know what is beyond this island. Don't worry! I know and I will protect you. I will speak to Athena and we will find a new garment for you… something to make you feel more protected… something that will enclose you and cover your beauty so that you will feel at peace.
Medusa:No, no, no! (Speaking increasingly louder with each repetition). You don't understand. Perhaps it is you who is looking through a window at me. Don't you see? I have nothing. I have no existence outside of this place. I have no purpose. For all the gods’ sake, I do not even have a name separate from that of man. I am FEEE- male. Why can't I have a name that is just to represent myself, as I am, not as a married or single woman or a woman with or without a child, just to mean me in this body? (Her gestures show her figure- hands at her sides outlining her own shape as she speaks).
Pause
(After thinking a moment and walking around in a circle).
I shall call myself FE (pronounced fay). I will challenge the way that I have been treated in the past, and I will take a voyage to the other islands. I will learn what is different, and what is the same. I will learn to think and analyze. I will develop my own philosophy, and discuss it with those who are willing and those who are not will have to suffer in their miserable windowsill.
Poseidon:(In shock, as though she has committed blasphemy).
Medi, Medi, my darling, you mustn't let things get to you so. Stress will cause illness and remember you are only a mortal. What you are saying is senseless and you will see the foolishness of it in time. I have tired you out too much this time. I will not come again, until the moon is full. A woman needs her rest, and I have been neglecting that...
Lights go dim.
Scene 4
Lights come up and we see five columns of varying heights and widths. On four of the columns, a member of the chorus rests: a man is reclining on a large segment of a column about a foot and a half in height, a woman is crouched on a taller column looking down as if into a pool of water, another woman is standing with her head turned to her right, as if talking aside to the fourth choral member. The fourth member is a man standing as an orator with an imaginary book in his hands. This last choral member is on the tallest and narrowest column. The fifth column is about six feet tall and is unoccupied.
Enter Medusa.
Medusa: Foolish! (Emphatically) What is it that makes people use that word? It is so infuriating. Why couldn't he have said, rash or, or, or I don't know, just something else, anything else? I am not a fool because I think for myself, because I want to experience things with my own eyes and ears and body.
Female choral member1:(Standing and turning her head to the man behind her)
Yes, that is what they are afraid of, that you will follow the whims of your body.
Male choral member 1: (Looking straight ahead over a book)
…With your body. Just like all the others. Do you really want to be like all the others? You can be an individual, just get married and then you can be different just like every other young wife. The other girls will envy your uniqueness.
Female choral member 2:(Crouching and looking down at Medusa) What is it you love Medusa? Remember that love serves over all else.
Medusa:What is it I love? Better to say who is it? You know the answer. Why, Poseidon of course. He is like a father to me and a brother and a lover. He is all things. He is a god.
Male choral member 2:You must forget him, Medusa.
Female Choral Member1: (Singing) Medusa let him go.
Male Choral Member 2:(Singing) Medusa let him goooo!
Female Choral Member 2:(Singing) Medusa, you must let him go! (Ending on a low note)
Male Choral Member2: (Singing) Let him goooo!
Lights dim and come up again.
Medusa has fallen to the ground. She hears thunder and runs towards the empty column as though she can climb it. She fumbles trying to hold her long gown in her hand and claw at the column. She gives up and letting go of her dress she clings to the column as though she is a small child holding onto her mother's leg.
Lights go off rapidly.
Scene 5
Medusa's bedroom. Medusa is sitting on the edge of her bed wearing a garment of black linen. She is covered from head to toe by the fabric and there is a small area where the fabric is sheerer so that she can see through it. Behind her is her servant standing fixed, frozen by the gaze of Medusa.
The Doctor Aesclepius enters. He is confused. He has never been here before and the door to the bedroom was left open. He looks over and sees the servant and then the shrouded Medusa who has not realized that he has entered. She begins to sob and he takes her hand, feeling her pulse. As her sobs increase, he sits beside her on the bed. Finally, she stops and he sits up as though nothing has happened and asks her some formal questions.
Aesclepius:I was summoned here by your sisters. What has happened? Why is your servant ... (completes his thought with a gesture towards the girl frozen in time) why are you dressed like this?
Medusa:I am in love, Aesclepius, and there seems to be no solution for me. My wounds have grown and move of their own free will. Where my hair once twisted down my back in serpentine form there are hideous creatures. I am like the serpent. Cold. I can feel no warmth unless held by another. My form reflects my malady.
Aesclepius: Come, there is not a sickness that I have not seen. This must be of something familiar, yet has changed because of a certain fatigue or perhaps you are with child.
Medusa:(Her head moves up and back in an emphatic Greek gesture that says No! This is evident even through her shrouded garment.)
Aesclepius:I must have a look at you. Perhaps the healing springs at the Aesclepian will help. We will take you there and you will see that love is not the end of everything.
Medusa: (Refusing to remove her garment, she makes a gesture as though she is protecting herself. Holding her garment more closely she speaks.) I was given this cloth by Poseidon. His love has woven it and it was meant to protect me. I have found that it is not I that needs protection, but those around me.
Aesclepius:But, Medusa, I have known you since your birth. You have never needed protection from anything. You were always strong and filled with passion. Your wisdom surpassed your years. (Standing up from the bed) In fact, I always thought you were someone who would make a difference. Some great change for everyone. Come and remove your garment and let me see this malady that comes from great love.
Medusa: (Bending her head as if to think and then speaking) You do not fear my ideas and you do not fear death, for if you did you would not tend the sick. You wish to learn about something new, a new kind of illness, a new way of seeing?
Aesclepius:Yes, Medusa. I have always enjoyed our dialogue. Remember our discussion about the new title for a Female. FEEEEEEEEEE! It is brilliant. I have been waiting for your permission to share it with the medical world. Come now, let me help you.
Medusa:Bring then, a gazing glass filled with water and I will remove these shrouds of love. But, when you return, look only into the water and never directly at my countenance, for I am not sure if this malady be contagious to all or just those who stand fixed in their point of view, unable to move forward- to grow.
Aesclepius: (Takes her hand and bending, touches it to his forehead and turns to leave) I shall return as you have directed. It seems a strange instruction, but I have never had reason to question your judgment and would never question it in a time of need.